Method of stuffing and sealing stuffed toys



June 12, 1962 L. UNGER METHOD OF STUFFING AND SEALING STUFFED TOYS Filed May 4, 1960 3,038,283 METHOD OF STUFFING AND SEALING STUFFED TOYS Leo Uuger, 5948 Phillips Ave., Pittsburgh 17, Pa. Filed May 4, 1960, Ser. No. 26,896 1 Claim. (Cl. 53--29) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in stuffed toys, more particularly to a method of stufiing and sealing stuifed toys made of heat sealing materials such as the well-known plastics, polyethylene and the like. In fabricating stuffed toys of heat sealing casings, it is diflicul-t to keep the seams to be sealed free of the stuffing material, and the present invention has among its objects a method of stuffing and sealing toys that prevents the stufling material from getting caught between the sealing faces of the cover material.

The invention will become more apparent from a consideration of the accompanying drawing constituting a part hereof in which like reference characters designate like parts and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a stuifed toy embodying the principles of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of a rough cut toy made of heat sealing material before it is stuffed;

FIGURE 3 is a view of the unstuifed casing taken along the line 3-3, FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view of the stulfed toy taken along the line 4-4, FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5, a cross section of the stuffed toy before it is heat sealed, taken along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 2; and,

FIGURE 6, a horizontal section taken along the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5.

In the drawing, the numeral 1 generally designates a stuffed toy in the shape of a dog having a head portion 2, a snout 3, ears 4, an eye 5 and a carrier strap 6, which is leashed around the neck and tail, as shown in FIG- URE 1.

The toy of FIGURE 1 is constructed of a casing of plastic material of any suitable color, shape and design which may be opaque or translucent, as desired. The material, as shown in FIGURE 3, is folded to form the body 7 and the legs 8 and 9. It will be noted that the body and legs are heat sealed, as shown at 10, and as shown by the dash line in FIGURE 2. The flaps beyond the sealing area 10 of the toy are provided with holes 11 for alignment on pegs of the sealing dies so that the material is stretched taut and sealing is effected uniformly over the entire body of the cover material.

The real problem in the construction of the toy is to 'fill or stug the toy body and yet obtain a clean seal at 3,038,283 Patented June 12, 1962 ice the stufling opening. In the instant case, the stufling is done through the tail of the dog, into which a filling tube 12 is inserted, as shown in FIGURE 2. A flap 13 of excess casing material extends beyond the tail portion of the dog which normally and after heat sealing terminates along the dot and dash line 14. The flap 13 is folded into the opening of the tail, as shown by the dash lines 15, FIGURE 2 and the filler tube 12 holds the folded end flap in place during the stufling operation. After the body has been stuffed, as shown in FIGURE 4, the flap retains the filler material in the stuffed body after the tube 12 is removed, leaving the marginal sealing port-ion of the tail free of the filler material. The stuffed dog or toy is then placed in the sealing die by registering the holes 11 at the tail end with the pegs of the die and the die elements, which are electrically heated, are brought together to effect the sealing along the dash line 10. The marginal piece is then cut away from the sealed edge, leaving the dog as shown in FIGURE 1. A belly piece may be provided on the underside of the dog in the manner shown in FIGURE 1.

By providing a flap to be inserted in the stufiing opening, the stufiing material is prevented from escaping or from reaching the sealing area, thus leaving it free and clean to effect a perfect seal and closure.

While the invention has been illustrated and described for stuffing toy dogs, it is evident that it may be applied to any shape of toy such as a doll or other forms.

Although one embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the details of construction without departing from the principles herein set forth.

I claim:

The method of stuffing and heat sealing toys and the like which comprises placing two sheets of a synthetic heat sealing material having the shape of a toy in superposed relation, heat sealing the outline of the superposed sheets to the shape of the toy to form a container for the body material with an unsealed opening having a flap for holding the body material in said container, folding said flap and inserting the folded portion into said opening, forcing a filling tube through said opening and against said flap into the space within the sealed superposed sheets to form the toy body and heat sealing said opening and flap to close the toy body.

Andrew Sept. 14, 1937 Southwick Feb. 5, 1952 

